-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Jeffrey Fowle never met Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller . But he 's been in their shoes .

Just three weeks ago , Fowle -- like his fellow Americans , Bae and Miller -- was detained in North Korea . Within a half-hour of his release , he was on a plane leaving the isolated East Asian nation .

`` On the ride to the airport ... I was hoping they 'd be on the plane as well , '' Fowle said Saturday . `` I got there , and they said I was the only one coming home . ''

No more . On Saturday , the U.S. government announced that Bae and Miller will soon be joining Fowle on American soil after being released .

Now in Ohio , Fowle wonders why it did n't happen sooner and why he was let go first , despite the fact Bae and Miller were detained before him .

`` Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller should have been released before I was , '' Fowle told CNN . `` But I 'm glad to hear that they 're on their way home . ''

It 's too early to say what their lives will be like back home . Miller has been held since April . For Bae , it has been nearly two years .

Euna Lee , who was released from North Korea in 2009 after being detained for 140 days , said she wanted to return not just to her home , but to normal .

`` You can imagine that that does n't happen , '' Lee said . `` But that 's what , I 'm sure , they want to probably have , -LRB- to -RRB- just come back to regular , mundane days . ''

North Korea releases Bae , Miller

Conditions vary for detainees , but all isolated

Numerous Americans have been detained over the years in North Korea , though that 's not to say that they 've all had identical experiences .

Of the three released in the past few weeks , it appears Bae had it worst .

The married father of three from Lynwood , Washington , moved to China in 2005 . A year later , he established `` Nations Tour , '' a China-based tour company that specialized in tours of North Korea .

A devout Christian , Bae was in Rason , an area along the northeastern coast of North Korea , when authorities arrested him in November 2012 . U.S. officials confirmed Bae 's detention the next month . The following May , he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for `` hostile acts '' against the Communist nation , and spent time in a labor camp , as well as a hospital .

And Miller got six years of hard labor in September for `` acts hostile '' to North Korea , all because he had ripped up his tourist visa and shouted his desire to seek asylum after arriving in the country , the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported .

Fowle received no such sentence after leaving a Bible at a club in northern North Korea , which he admitted doing .

While also accused of `` perpetrating hostile acts , '' and while he -- like Bae and Miller -- told CNN he signed documents admitting his guilt , Fowle said he did n't spend time in a jail or at a labor camp . Instead , he spent time in a high-rise hotel and a hospitality center since his detention last spring .

Lee said that being cut off from the world is a major punishment in itself , with or without harsh conditions .

`` Being isolated in a foreign country is very difficult , '' she said . '' -LRB- Having -RRB- no communication with family members or the outside world -LRB- makes -RRB- it even more hard . ''

Former detainee : ` I 'd tell them to keep the faith '

Thankfully , that wo n't be a struggle any more for Bae and Miller . If past releases are any indication , they 'll soon be hugging and kissing family members back in the United States , then going off to spend time with loved ones .

`` What they really need is people around them -LRB- and in the public who -RRB- can continually give them positive attention , until they are fully recovered from this attention and isolation , '' Lee said .

Fowle said that his transition home was eased by the fact he got his old job back home in Ohio .

That would seem impossible for Bae , who 's been gone longer and whose business was predicated on traveling to North Korea , as Fowle fully admits .

Still , he believes that both Bae and Miller -- if they can survive months detained in North Korea -- can survive and thrive in their return home as well .

Asked what he would say now to his two fellow Americans , Fowle said , `` I 'd tell them to keep the faith . ''

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Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller are the latest Americans released from North Korea

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North Korea released Jeffrey Fowle last month ; he had hoped Bae , Miller would be with him

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Fowle says he would tell the newly released Americans `` to keep the faith ''

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Another former N. Korean detainee , Euna Lee , says the 2 probably want `` mundane days ''